My Strategy to Lose 10 Pounds

A few years ago, I wrote a post freaking the eff out about weighing 143 pounds. For those of you new to my blog, I started this whole fitness thang by losing 50 pounds. I started at 189 and got down to 139, in case math is not your strong suit. I even lost a few more pounds after that, and my lowest weight was about 135, a weight that is more than normal or even “heavy” to some, but I thought made me look too gaunt. (Friends who didn’t know me then but have seen photos say they would like to give that Theodora a cheeseburger.)

I vowed I’d never let myself weigh over 140 again.

Then I vowed I’d never let myself weigh over 150 again.

Then I vowed I’d never let myself weigh over 160 again. And 160 is where I finally drew the line earlier this year. (Slash my therapist — “you’ve been complaining about feeling uncomfortable in your body for a while — what weight would you feel comfortable at? I told her 145-150, and we agreed that was totally doable.)(And yes, I know, perhaps she and I should be working on accepting my body, etc, but…)

I know the actual number “doesn’t matter.” I know I work out and try to get enough sleep and try my best to eat healthy and I know I am overall in good shape and better than the average bear…

But I don’t fit into a lot of my clothes, and frankly, I don’t really like the way I look right now. And I know I certainly have some work on my healthy eating habits to do…

…which is where my buddy Tina comes in!! She launched a nutrition/meal planning service a few months ago and had asked if I wanted to try it and write about it. EFF YES. Tell me what to eat, Tina. 

I’ll go into the actual service in future posts, but for now, I wanted to tell you what I’m working on.

TRACKING

I hate it. It works. End of story. This blog started with photos of every meal and man did that accountability work. But so has MyFitnessPal in the past…until I start seeing some results, get cocky and stop tracking. Tina’s service provides you the macros you should hit and meals that are friendly to your macros. I just upgraded my MFP to get the version that allows you more control/customization over your macros.

I’m also committing myself to tracking every effing glass of wine. Not just the nights I have one glass, but also the nights I have…more than one.

WINE

Which brings me to…wine (/alcohol.) I like wine. I drink probably more of it than is healthy for weight reasons, general health reasons and certainly mental health reasons. (Wine makes you feel better about things…until it doesn’t and makes you feel way worse.) 

PLANNING

Omg, this is so cheesy, but fail to plan, plan to fail. If I don’t have a general game plan of what I’m going to cook/eat, then I’ll end up grabbing something that’s not as healthy for me. Even things that *seem* healthy out just aren’t. They’re always bigger portion sizes than what I’d make at home and you really never know exactly which ingredients are in them, right? Something nutritionists + Tina have always recommended is also planning in MFP, or wherever you track, your day ahead. So, if I know what I’ll be having for breakfast and lunch, I can input those and know how many calories I have to play around with for wine, I mean, snacks. I also like that Tina’s plan gives me both macros AND meal ideas. So — I can use her meal ideas the times I do get to plan and just keep macros in mind when I can’t (i.e. work lunches, etc.) 

PROTEIN

I love me some eggs and jerky and feel no meal is complete without protein. So, I was totally getting enough protein, yes? For an active person with weight loss goals, probably not. It’s a good thing I really like protein. More eggs and jerky, here I come. Slash random ground meat? Cool.

ACTUAL NUMBER GOALS

I started at 159 last week and have already lost one pound. My goal is for 155 by end of April and 150 or less end of May. These will take work but I think totally doable.

Any questions, especially for me to pass along to Tina about her service?